Imagine being a child stuck in the hospital this holiday season or for an extended period no matter what time of the year. Sometimes a toy or a gift can make all the difference.
  
Each December for the past 15 years, the staff of SSM Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center in St. Louis (website) anxiously awaits the delivery of toys, games and other gifts from a group of Ameren employees. A portion of the toys are handed out during the holidays. However, the delivery of these gifts extends far beyond the month of December.
  
The additional toys are often given to a child after a procedure or surgery, on a child’s birthday and still others can be used in the waiting areas or play rooms throughout the hospital.
  
“We look forward to this day every year. This is such a tremendous help to us,” said Colleen Boron, child life specialist in the Same Day Surgery Department at Cardinal Glennon. “It’s exciting because this group does a great job of getting things that we really need and what the patients really love.”
  
Boron was all smiles as four pickup trucks pulled up to the hospital’s loading dock on Dec. 16 to deliver toys and other gifts.
  
“If you go upstairs and see those kids in the rooms, you’d understand why we do this,” said John Berg, certified repairman, Labadie Energy Center, Ameren Missouri, who has helped organize the toy delivery for 15 years. “This is a great place.”

December 2011